Apr 17, 2012 - Sale 2276

Sale 2276 - Lot 78

Price Realized: $ 6,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
THE INSIDE STORY OF GREEN SPRINGS—'IT WILL NOT DO TO MAKE IT PUBLIC' MUHLENBERG, JOHN PETER GABRIEL. Autograph Letter Signed, 'P. Muhlenberg,' as Brigadier General, to Brigadier General George Weedon, describing the nearly disastrous Battle of Green Spring and Anthony Wayne's 'impetuosity.' 3 pages, folio, on a single folded sheet; partial closed separation at center fold, small seal hole affecting 1 word. "Camp" [VA], 29 July 1781
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'If Lord Cornwallis cannot brag much of his jaunt thro' Virginia, we may likewise be silent on that score. The affair at Green Spring, subrosa, might have proved fatal to this army & the state, owing to the impetuosity of our brother Brigadier. For your own satisfaction, I will give you a little sketch of the matter, but it will not do to make it public. . . . At 3 o'clock I rec'd intelligence that the riflemen were engaged with the enemy's pickets & that the Pens'a Line had advanced so far that they could not retreat without engaging. We had now seven mile to march to their assistance which we completed in one hour & fifteen minutes. When we got to Green Springs we met the Pennsylvania Line, broke all to pieces not more than six or seven in a body, their field pieces lost, the regt of L.I. [light infantry] intirely separated from them, the British infantry in pursuit & Tarlton with 581 horse within a mile ready to charge. In the nick of time we came up & began to display on the rising ground near the springs, amidst such clouds of dust that the enemy thought our whole force was there, & this Tarlton gives as a reason why he did not charge. . . . We staid upon the ground about two hours after the Pennsylvanians had left it. . . . From this my dr sir, you will be able to judge whether the step on our side was prudent, & whether the enemy if they had acted properly might not have totally destroyed both brigades.'